50 Years On, Looking Back at the Great Train Robbery - History in the Headlines 50 Years On, Looking Back at the Great Train Robbery August 8, 2013 By Sarah Pruitt Investigators examine the Royal Mail train involved in the Great Train Robbery. (Credit: Evening Standard/Getty Images Share this: 50 Years On, Looking Back at the Great Train Robbery Author 50 Years On, Looking Back at the Great Train Robbery URL Google They were inspired by the railroad robberies of the Wild West, and their crime became as famous as any of those heists. In the early morning hours of August 8, 1963, 15 thieves held up the Royal Mail train heading between Glasgow, Scotland and London, England, making off with 120 mailbags stuffed with some 2.6 million pounds in used bank notes. Though most of the gang was eventually captured and imprisoned, they became folk heroes to many for the scale and audacity of the theft. Fifty years later, we take a look back at the Great Train Robbery and some of its key participants. Around 3 a.m.

on that fateful morning 50 years ago, Jack Mills, the driver of the Royal Mail train from Glasgow to London, stopped at a red signal located near a remote bridge at Ledburn in Buckinghamshire, northwest of London. Unfortunately for Mills, the signal was fake; the robbers had placed a glove over the real signal and used a battery to illuminate the red light. After assaulting Mills’ co-driver, David Whitby, who had come out to check on the signal, 15 men wearing ski masks and helmets boarded the train, and one of them (it is still unknown exactly who) hit Mills over the head with an iron bar. Acting on inside information from an unknown informant known simply as “the Ulsterman,” known burglar and mastermind Bruce Reynolds and his fellow thieves knew the Royal Mail train carried large sums of money nightly, and that it was stored in the second car behind the engine.

There was a particularly large haul that night, as a bank holiday weekend had just concluded in Scotland, and the thieves were able to load some 2.6 million pounds (the equivalent of 45-46 million pounds, or $69-71 million, in today’s money) into 120 mailbags. They then escaped in an ex-British Army truck and two stolen Land Rovers marked with identical license plates (to confuse the police). At a rented farmhouse in Bedfordshire, England, the gang of thieves divided their loot and planned to lay low for a couple of weeks, even as a huge police operation kicked into gear. Rewards totaling a record 260,000 pounds were offered by insurers, banks and the Post Office for information leading to their capture. Meanwhile, the robbers decided to ditch their hideout, which police raided after a tip from a neighbor. Twelve out of the 15 thieves were eventually captured, and received prison sentences totaling some 300 years among them. The bulk of the cash they stole was never found, but the most serious casualty of the robbery was Jack Mills, who never fully recovered from his head injuries, and died in 1970.

The perpetrators of the Great Train Robbery attained cult status with the international public, becoming the most famous robbers and outlaws since the “Hole in the Wall Gang” of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. Bruce Reynolds went on the run in Mexico and Canada with his family and managed to elude capture for five years, but was eventually sentenced to 25 years in prison (he served only 10.) Ronald “Buster” Edwards also escaped to Mexico for three years before giving himself up; his story was later featured in a movie, “Buster,” starring Phil Collins. But it was small-time hood Ronnie Biggs who became the most famous of the Great Train Robbers, pulling off an escape from Wandsworth Prison in 1965, after serving only 15 months. He had plastic surgery to change his appearance, fled England and lived abroad (in Spain, Australia and Brazil) for years, flaunting his playboy lifestyle and taunting British authorities while repeated efforts to extradite him failed. In 2001, Biggs finally returned to the United Kingdom to receive health treatment and was jailed in order to serve the remaining 28 years in his sentence.

He was released in 2009 on compassionate grounds after suffering several strokes in jail. Ahead of today’s 50th anniversary, some of the key players in the Great Train Robbery stepped briefly back into the spotlight to reflect on the case that made them famous. Douglas Gordon Goody, who was also sentenced to 30 years for his role in the heist, told the U.K.’s Guardian that he will reveal the identity of “the Ulsterman” in a documentary airing later this year. Goody and Edwards were the only members of the gang to meet the informant in person, and some authorities apparently viewed Goody (rather than Reynolds, who died earlier this year) as the true mastermind of the robbery. As for Ronnie Biggs, he celebrates his 84th birthday today, and has remained defiant about his participation in the robbery. Though he can no longer speak, Biggs communicated to journalists through a spelling board before the anniversary that he had no regrets about being one of the train robbers.

In fact, he said he was “proud” to have been one of them, stating that “I am one of the few witnesses—living or dead—to what was ‘The Crime of the Century.’” Want more info on the Great Train Robbery? Christopher Pickard, co-author of Ronnie Biggs’ autobiography, discusses the crime at Tags The Great Train Robbery, 1963 The Great Train Robbery, 1963 Your right to information The Great Train Robbery, 1963 One of the most infamous robberies of all time, 1963’s Great Train Robbery involved the hijack of a London-bound train, and the theft of millions of pounds. Late on Thursday 8 August 1963, a Travelling Post Office train left Glasgow for Euston. On board, staff sorted the mail and parcels prior to its arrival in London. The second carriage from the front of the train was a High Value Package carriage, where registered mail was sorted. Much of this consisted of cash.

Usually the value of these items would have been in the region of £300,000 but, because there had been a Bank Holiday weekend in Scotland the total on the day of the robbery was £2.3 million (about £30 million today). The wrong signal The train passed Leighton Buzzard at about 3am on 8 August 1963, and moments later the driver, Jack Mills saw a red signal ahead at a place called Sears Crossing. The signal was false. A glove had been stuffed onto the proper signal and the red light was activated by attaching it to a six volt battery. When Mills stopped, his co-driver David Whitby climbed out of the diesel engine to ring the signalman to ascertain the problem. He discovered that the cables from the line-side phone had been cut and as he turned to return to his train he was attacked and thrown down the steep railway embankment. Meanwhile, a masked man climbed into the train cab and coshed the driver around the head rendering him unconscious. Meanwhile, other robbers uncoupled most of the carriages, leaving on the engine and the first two carriages containing the high-value property.

The steep embankments at Sears crossing were unpractical for removing the loot from the train but the gang had planned to drive the train a mile further to Bridego Bridge. Here, Land Rovers were waiting to transport the cash to a nearby hideout. Soon the well-planned heist encountered a problem. One of the gang had spent months befriending railway staff on the pretence of being a railway enthusiast. He had been allowed rides in the cabs of trains and had even been permitted to drive a few trains. His part in the robbery was to drive the train to the rendezvous point but as he climbed into the cab of the train he realised that this huge diesel train was far more complicated than the local trains he had previously travelled in. One of the gang, Ronnie Biggs, had to rouse the driver to continue the journey. In the front two carriages, frightened Post Office staff were pushed to one end by some of the fifteen strong gang – but, in the remaining ten carriages left at Sears Crossing, staff did not even realise anything had happened. A human chain of robbers At Bridego Bridge a human chain of robbers removed 120 sacks containing two-and-a-half-tons of money.

The robbery was well organised and swift. Before leaving, one of the gang ordered Post Office staff to stay still for 30 minutes before contacting the police. This gave the investigators an important clue, they suspected that the gang had a hideout within a 30 minute drive of the scene. This was indeed the case. An old farmhouse in Oakley Buckinghamshire, Letherslade Farm, had been rented and during the next few days the jubilant gang shared out the cash. They even played Monopoly using real money. A huge police investigation was launched, run by the Flying Squad at Scotland Yard and senior detectives from the Buckinghamshire Police. The officer in overall command was Detective Chief Superintendent Jack Slipper. British Transport Police had a small role to play in the investigation, mainly conducting enquiries, obtaining lists of staff and suspects. Back at the farm, the gang were becoming spooked by low flying RAF aircraft who were actually on training runs and nothing to do with the manhunt that had now been established.

They split the money which was mainly in used £1 and £5 notes (Biggs was to receive £147,000) and left the scene immediately rather than ‘lying low’ for several weeks as they had planned. A nearby resident became suspicious of the comings and goings at the farm and advised the police. PC John Wooley responded to the report and found large amounts of abandoned food and provisions. Sleeping bags and bedding had been left in upstairs rooms and in the cellar, bank note wrappers, post office sacks and registered mail packages. Fingerprints on the Monopoly board A thorough examination found several fingerprints including some on the Monopoly board and others on a ketchup bottle. These fingerprints and other enquiries led to the offenders and one by one they were arrested. BTP headquarters at Park Royal in north London was regularly updated of the progress of the investigation and the Chief Constable was sent supplementary crime reports giving the names and details of those involved. They all eventually appeared in court. The mastermind of the operation, Bruce Reynolds took five years to track down but received ten years imprisonment. Ronnie Biggs received 30 years but escaped from Wandsworth prison in a furniture van only 15 months later.

His flight to Brazil (via Spain and Australia) and subsequent return to the UK in May 2001 have been well documented. The verdict The gang received a total of 307 years imprisonment. Despite the huge amount of money stolen none of the thieves were able to live happily on their ill-gotten gains. Buster Edwards ended up running a flower stall at Waterloo station. He received a lot of publicity in 1988 when Phil Collins played him in the film Buster. He took his own life in the late 1990s. James Hussey and Thomas Wisbey were convicted in 1989 for trafficking drugs, while Charles Wilson was shot and killed in Spain. It must be said that the Great Train Robbery was brilliantly planned and executed. Apart from the attack on the train driver it was non-violent and no firearms were used. The raiders managed to steal much more money than they had planned and perhaps it was the greed in sharing all the money out which led to them being careless and leaving so many fingerprints behind, sealing their own fate.

Thames Valley Police - Force Museum - The Great Train Robbery The Great Train Robbery Solving The Great Train Robbery 50 years on The Great Train Robbery of 1963 has become one of the most infamous heists of all time, even attaching celebrity and a somewhat heroic status to many of the gang members. The heist saw two of London’s most notorious gangs, the South East gang and the South West gang, come together to pull off the most unique and audacious robbery Britain had ever seen; a crime which would soon capture the imagination of not only the British public, but people all over the world, for decades to come. Taking place on the Buckinghamshire/Bedfordshire border, and with trials at Aylesbury, the heist bought much attention not only to the Buckinghamshire Constabulary, but also the Metropolitan Police and the Post Office Investigation Department. The investigation that followed was the largest combined investigation then undertaken, involving many officers in the direct investigation and many Buckinghamshire Constabulary officers involved in scene containment, and escorting prisoners at the many remand hearings, committal hearings and eventually the trial.

The number of people subsequently arrested required a temporary court to be built within the Aylesbury Rural District Council Chambers as the Linslade Magistrates Court was too small for the committal hearing and the Assize (Crown) Court too small for the trial. The majority of the robbery had been meticulously planned; each gang member had a specific role and purpose that played a vital part in the execution of the crime. Although it is not known exactly who came up with the idea, gang leader, Bruce Reynolds is widely believed to have been the mastermind behind the robbery. Using inside information about the train’s movements, Reynolds chose the gang who would hold up and rob the Glasgow to London Royal Mail Travelling Post Office train. The Robbery Taking place a day later than originally planned, the gang set off from Leatherslade Farm near Oakley, Buckinghamshire at around 1am on Thursday 8 August 1963. Reaching their destination, Sears Crossing between Leighton Buzzard and Cheddington, the train signals were rigged to stay red, forcing the train to come to a halt at 3.03am.

The gang, disguised in masks, army uniform and boiler suits, swarmed the train and quickly detached the two front carriages from the rest; the front two being where the cash and high value packages (HVPs) were kept, then forcing the train driver, Jack Mills, to drive the two carriages half a mile further up the track to Bridego Bridge. This is where the unloading of the cash took place. There were no police or security officers on board the train, and although more than 70 mail sorting staff occupied the rest of the train, they were left unaware of what had happened. One big clue The gang had thought to cut the phone lines so it was not until 4.15am that the alarm had reached the signalman. By this time the robbers were arriving back at Leatherslade Farm. It was here that they celebrated the robbery, divided up the money shares, and played a game of Monopoly using the money they had just stolen. It was also here that their plan began to fall apart. Fingerprints were left on items in the farmhouse after the accomplice hired to burn it down failed to stick to his word; leaving their identities exposed.

Perhaps luckily for the gang, the local media had wrongly reported that the police were searching farm houses within a 30 mile radius from the robbery, rather than a 30 minute radius, thus scaring the gang and forcing them to leave Leatherslade earlier than planned. However leaving early meant they didn’t spend time covering their tracks properly. The farm has since been described as the ‘one big clue’, and items found inside Leatherstrade including the Monopoly set are now on display at the Thames Valley Police museum. Jack Mills and David Whitby On the night of the robbery, Jack Mills boarded the train during the driver crossover in his hometown of Crewe. He was joined by David Whitby, also from Crewe who was the acting secondman. When the robbery began it was David Whitby who left the train to address the red lights. Upon discovering the phone wires had been cut he was then confronted and thrown down the embankment where gang members restrained him. Meanwhile Jack Mills had begun to put up a fight in order to prevent the gang from boarding the train; however this resulted in him being coshed over the head by another gang member who had boarded the train from behind him.

The perpetrator of the blow has never been identified though it is believed to have been one of the ‘heavies’ employed by the gang. The robbers had planned for one of their number to move the locomotive and the two detached carriages but the robber realised he could not drive the large diesel, having had experience on diesel shunters only. Jack Mills, bleeding profusely, was then forced to drive the train up the track to Bridego Bridge. Following the robbery both Jack Mills and David Whitby had trouble coming to terms with what had happened. Jack Mills never fully returned to work and passed away seven years later, aged 64, from leukaemia; however his family insist that the blow to the head contributed to his ill health and subsequent early death. David Whitby, who was only 25 at the time of the robbery, was also said to have had problems dealing with the trauma of the robbery and sadly died from a heart attack two years after Jack Mills, aged just 34. Brought to justice Bringing the criminals involved to justice was never an easy task; however the majority of the gang were eventually sentenced to a combined total of over 300 years imprisonment.

Leader of the gang, Bruce Reynolds was captured after five years on the run and Buster Edwards after fleeing to Mexico for three years. Ronald ‘Ronnie’ Biggs was sentenced to 30 years in jail but escaped from Wandsworth prison in 1965 and spent the following 36 years as a fugitive residing in Paris, Australia and finally Brazil. In addition a further 17 people were charged with offences ranging from conspiracy to obstruct justice, harbouring wanted persons, and receiving stolen property. The Officers involved Officers from the Buckinghamshire Constabulary were joined by members of the British Transport Police as well as detectives from the Metropolitan Police’s Flying Squad. The investigation into the train robbery was a massive one and employed over 70 dedicated officers working on the case. In total over 2,000 official reports were documented and of the original 2,535 witness statements, over 250 witnesses were called to court. Following the discovery of the ‘One big clue’ of Leatherslade Farm, containment around the farm was maintained by up to 10 constables per shift.

A team of fingerprint specialists and photographers, under the command of Detective Superintendent Ray from the Metropolitan Police, searched the premises, outbuildings and all the various items found within it for clues that would eventually lead to the identification and subsequent conviction of the main offenders. In addition to the investigation, Buckinghamshire Constabulary also provided many officers in supporting roles, such as the containment of Leatherslade Farm, and the escorting and transporting of prisoners at remand hearings, committal hearings and finally the trials. BBC News - The Great Train Robbery: How it happened Print The Great Train Robbery: How it happened Just after 3am on 8 August, 1963 the night mail train from Glasgow Central to London Euston was stopped in Buckinghamshire by a gang of thieves. By 3:30am they had escaped with £2.6m in used banknotes - the equivalent of over £40m in today's money. Fifty years on what quickly became known as The Great Train Robbery still occupies a unique place in the history of British crime. Click on the images to find out how it happened. Train seized × The train was stopped at a place known as Sears Crossing by tampering with the signals.

A glove was placed over the green light to hide it from the driver while the red light was connected to a small battery. When the train stopped at the signal a group of the robbers ran up from the trackside and jumped into the cab of the locomotive. Robbery × The engine and the first two carriages were uncoupled from the rest of the train and driven a short distance down the track to Bridego Bridge. The robbers had to force the train driver, Jack Mills, to move the train as the driver they had bought along could not operate the controls on this type of locomotive. Getaway × The rest of the gang were waiting by the bridge with a van. An axe and a crowbar were used to break into the door on the back of the rear carriage. The gang had assigned 15 minutes to unload as many mailbags as possible. They then drove along country roads in a van and two Landrovers to a hideout 17 miles (27km) away. Raising the alarm × The robbers had cut the cables on the trackside telephones and it wasn't until around 4:30am that one of the Royal Mail employees made it to Cheddington Station to alert the police.

It was five days until the gang's hideout was found - abandoned but containing the forensic evidence that would eventually see them convicted. The men behind the robbery Fifteen men were convicted for involvement in the robbery, receiving sentences of up 30 years. One man was cleared of the charges against him. Two of the men convicted are now not believed to have been involved in planning the robbery. Meanwhile, the source of the information about the train that led to the robbery, the mysterious 'Ulsterman', has never been revealed. The Great Train Robbery | World History Project Aug 8 1963 The Great Train Robbery The Great Train Robbery is the name given to a £2.6 million train robbery (the equivalent of around £40 million today) committed on Thursday 8 August 1963 at Bridego Railway Bridge, Ledburn near Mentmore in Buckinghamshire, England. The bulk of the stolen money was not recovered. Three robbers were never found, two convicted robbers escaped. One convicted most likely never was involved, and died in prison. Though there were no firearms involved, the standard judgment was 30 years.

Source: Wikipedia Added by: Scott McMillin No one knows for sure who first came up with the idea of robbing the Glasgow-to-London mail train, but one thing is certain, it led to one of the most audacious crimes in British history. The Great Train Robbery of 1963 was a daring crime that had more in common with Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid than a band of small-time London criminals. It was a crime that not only captivated the imagination of the worlds media and the public they served, it also succeeded in transforming one of the gang, Ronald Arthur Ronnie Biggs, into a folk hero. A number of sources, including Peta Fordhams 1965 book The Robbers Tale, credit an unnamed leader of Londons underworld as being the brains behind the original idea which was later rejected by his gang in the early 1960s as being too ambitious.

Leonard Nipper Read, the Scotland Yard detective who arrested the notorious Kray twins, suggests in his autobiography, Nipper - The Man Who Nicked the Krays, that the original plan was the brainchild of an unnamed Irishman who was well known for planning robberies and on-selling them to other criminals. Great Train Robber Gordon Goody dies aged 86 | UK news | The Guardian UK news Great Train Robber Gordon Goody dies aged 86 One of last surviving members of famous heist dies in southern Spanish town of Mojacar where he ran a bar Gordon Goody was jailed for 30 years for his part in the ‘crime of the century’. Photograph: Evening Standard/Getty Images UK news Great Train Robber Gordon Goody dies aged 86 One of last surviving members of famous heist dies in southern Spanish town of Mojacar where he ran a bar Friday 29 January 2016 12.06 EST First published on Friday 29 January 2016 08.30 EST Close This article is 12 months old Until breaking his silence last year, Gordon Goody was known as the quiet man of the Great Train Robbery.

Now, what secrets he may have held about the notorious 1963 heist will never be revealed after the 86-year-old passed away on Friday in the Spanish village he came to call home. For 50 years, Goody remain tight-lipped over the crime that captured the public’s imagination. He modestly tended to his bar in the whitewashed streets of Mojácar while the former gang leader Bruce Reynolds courted the media and accomplice Ronnie Biggs grabbed headlines with his globetrotting efforts to evade capture. But in 2014 Goody finally decided to illuminate some – if not all – of the dark holes in the story of what has been dubbed the crime of the century. The Great Train Robbery - in pictures Read more Goody and Reynolds – to whom Goody stood as deputy in London’s South West gang – plotted the robbery, which saw 15 men halt the Glasgow to Euston overnight mail train on 8 August 1963.

The diesel locomotive was stopped as it passed through the Buckinghamshire countryside close to Cheddington and driven a mile and a half to Bridego bridge, where the gang unloaded £2,631,684 in used notes, the equivalent of around £46m today. During the audacious raid, the train’s driver Jack Mills was hit over the head with an iron bar and suffered serious injuries. He recovered, and died in 1970 aged 64 from an illness unrelated to the robbery. However, his family maintained that he was traumatised by the attack. Goody, who was 34 at the time, was caught and sentenced to 35 years but served only 12 after a change in the law. In a book and documentary released two years ago, he claimed to reveal one of the great mysteries surrounding the robbery: who was the insider previously referred to as the Ulsterman who taught the gang how to target the train? Goody claimed it was Patrick McKenna, then a 43-year-old postal worker in north London, who told them how a post train operated.

According to Goody, it was McKenna who told the gang to change the original robbery date from the 7th because the next day’s train would be carrying more cash. But Goody was less forthcoming about another contested and more grave issue: who dealt the grisly blow to Mills? Gang member James Hussey made a deathbed confession in 2012, claiming it was he who struck the train driver. Goody insisted this was not true but stopped short of revealing the identity of the assailant. As for perhaps his most famous accomplice, Biggs, who spent more than 30 years on the run before he finally returned to Britain in 2001 to face arrest, Goody was less than flattering. “Biggsy was an arsehole,” he told the Guardian in 2014. “I didn’t like him, no one did.” Biggs’s son Michael said: “It is always sad to know someone’s passed away and my thoughts are with his family at the moment, and I wish his family all the best. It’s the end of an era.

Now it’s all down to the history books.” Goody was released from prison in 1975 and four years later made his way to Spain , where he lived out his life in the Almerian countryside. There at least, it appears, he shook off his criminal past and settled into the community. Announcing Goody’s death, a spokesman for the Mojacar town hall said: “All who knew him were struck by his friendliness, his love for his friends and family and the many pets he rescued from the street. He was a complete gentleman, far removed from the image that those who didn’t know him might have had from those difficult years that marked a large part of his life. We will always remember his smile and his big heart that was always open to those around him.” BBC ON THIS DAY | 8 | 1963: Train robbers make off with millions 1963: Train robbers make off with millions Thieves have ambushed the Glasgow to Euston mail train and stolen thousands of pounds. Banks estimate they have lost over £2m in used, untraceable banknotes in the biggest ever raid on a British train.

The Post Office train - known as the Up Special - had run every night, without interference, for 125 years until it was brought to a halt by a red light at 0315 GMT in Buckinghamshire. This was obviously a brilliantly planned operation<br> Det Supt Buckinghamshire CID<br> Driver Jack Mills, 58, has been detained in hospital in Aylesbury with head injuries after being coshed by the raiders, who police believe were masked and armed with sticks and iron bars. But most of the 75 mail sorters working on the train were unaware of the 20 minute incident as the thieves uncoupled the engine and front two carriages of the train and drove them up to Bridego Bridge a mile away. There they broke into the second carriage - restraining the four postal workers inside - and loaded 120 mail and money bags into a lorry waiting on the road beneath. Investigators - including Buckinghamshire Police, the British Transport Police and the Post Office - were on the scene, near Cheddington, in the early hours of the morning and found signals had been tampered with and telephone wires cut.

The Detective Superintendent of Buckinghamshire CID said: "This was obviously a brilliantly planned operation." Rewards totalling a record £260,000 have already been offered by insurers, banks and the Post Office for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the gang and return of the money. The Postmaster-General Mr Bevins explained the robbery may have been an "inside job" and has called for a "full and urgent" inquiry into security on Royal Mail trains. He was concerned the money on board had not been defaced, since much of it was en route to be destroyed. Labour MP for Burnley Dan Jones proposed a bill to improve security on mail trains two years ago and in the House of Commons today expressed outrage that the matter had still not been addressed. In Context The total amount stolen was put at £2.6m in a heist that became known as the Great Train Robbery. <br> After a massive police operation the gang's abandoned hideout was found at Leatherslade Farm in Bedfordshire. <br> Just over six months later 12 - of a gang of 15 - thieves were sentenced to jail-terms totalling more than 300 years.

<br> The robbery's mastermind, Bruce Reynolds, evaded capture until 1969, when he was given a 10 year sentence. <br> In the meantime two of his accomplices - Charlie Wilson and Ronnie Biggs - escaped. <br> Biggs only returned to the UK in 2001 for medical treatment and was imprisoned to serve the remainder of his 28 year sentence. He was released in August 2009 on compassionate grounds after suffering several strokes.<br> Jack Mills never worked again and died in 1970. <br> The Great Train Robbers: Who were they? - BBC News BBC News The Great Train Robbers: Who were they? 18 December 2013 Read more about sharing. Close share panel Image caption From left to right, pictures of Bruce Reynolds, Ronald "Buster" Edwards and Ronnie Biggs released by police at the time of the robbery in 1963 British criminal Ronnie Biggs, best known for his part in the 1963 Great Train Robbery, has died at the age of 84.

He was part of the gang that escaped with £2.6m from the Glasgow to London mail train on 8 August 1963. The haul the 15 men secured is the equivalent of £40m in today's money - and was a record at that time. So who was he and who were the other gang members? Ronnie Biggs Ronald Arthur "Ronnie" Biggs was jailed in 1964 for his part in the robbery, but his subsequent escape from prison and his life as a fugitive for 36 years gained him notoriety. After fleeing over the wall of London's Wandsworth prison in April 1965, Biggs had plastic surgery and moved firstly to Australia and then Brazil, evading a number of arrests, extradition and even kidnap. During this time he courted the media with his story. Eventually in 2001, when he was very ill, he decided to return to Britain to face arrest. His health continued to deteriorate while serving the remainder of his sentence, and he was finally freed in 2009 on "compassionate grounds" by then Justice Secretary Jack Straw.

He died in the early hours of 18 December at a care home in East Barnet, north London. Bruce Reynolds Bruce Reynolds, a thief and antiques dealer, planned the robbery that has become one of the most notorious in British criminal history. Nicknamed "Napoleon", he first fled to Mexico on a false passport then later to Canada with his wife Angela and son Nick. In 1968, five years after the crime, Reynolds returned to England and was captured in Torquay and jailed for 25 years. He was released in 1978 and lived alone and broke in a small flat off London's Edgware Road. He was jailed again in the 1980s for three years for dealing amphetamines. After his second release, Reynolds went on to work briefly as a consultant on a film about the robbery, Buster, and published the Autobiography of a Thief in 1995. He died in his sleep in the early hours of 28 February 2013.

Ronald Edwards Ronald "Buster" Edwards, who is perhaps best known as the subject of the 1988 film Buster, in which he was played by singer Phil Collins, is widely believed to have wielded the cosh used to hit train driver Jack Mills over the head. Like Reynolds, the former boxer and club owner fled to Mexico after the robbery, but gave himself up in 1966. After serving nine years in jail, he became a familiar figure selling flowers outside London's Waterloo station. He was found hanged in a garage in 1994 at the age of 62. Two wreaths in the shape of trains accompanied his funeral cortege. Charles Wilson Charles Frederick Wilson was the "treasurer" who gave each of the robbers their cut of the haul. He was captured quickly and during his trial earned the nickname "the silent man" because he refused to say anything. He was jailed for 30 years but escaped after just four months only to be captured again in Canada after four years on the run. He served another decade behind bars.

When he finally emerged from prison in 1978, he moved to Spain where he was shot and killed by a hitman on a bicycle in 1990. Roy James Roy John James, who was the chief getaway driver and nicknamed "Weasel", left a crucial fingerprint at the gang's farm hideout and was eventually caught after a rooftop chase. A silversmith and proficient racing driver, he planned to invest his share of the cash in new car technology. After serving 12 years of a 30-year sentence, he sold silver at a market before moving to Spain. In 1993 he was jailed again for six years for shooting his wife's father and hitting her with a pistol. He died soon after getting out of prison, aged 62. Brian Field A crooked solicitor, Brian Arthur Field was used to make the arrangements to buy the farm hideout used immediately after the robbery. He was sentenced to 25 years in jail, but that term was later reduced to five. He died in a motorway crash in 1979.

He is pictured here arriving with Leonard Field, no relation, for their first court appearance in Linslade, Buckinghamshire, in 1963. A merchant seaman, Leonard Field was sentenced to 25 years, reduced to five. He was released from jail in 1967 and moved to north London. Gordon Goody A hairdresser who was jailed for 30 years and released in 1975, Douglas "Gordon" Goody moved to Spain to run a bar after release. James Hussey A decorator known as "Big Jim", James Hussey was sentenced to 30 years and released in 1975. After working on a market stall, he later opened a restaurant in Soho. In 1989 he was jailed for seven years for a drug smuggling conspiracy with fellow train robber Wisbey. Roger Cordrey Florist Roger Cordrey was arrested in Bournemouth after renting a lock-up from a policeman's widow. He was jailed for 20 years, reduced to 14 on appeal. Following his release in 1971, he went back to the flower business and moved to the West Country.

James White James "Jimmy" White, a former paratrooper, was known as "quartermaster" for the robbery. He was caught in Kent after three years on the run and sentenced to 18 years. He was released in 1975 and moved to Sussex. Tommy Wisbey A bookie and self-confessed "heavy", it was Tommy Wisbey's role to frighten the train staff. He was sentenced to 30 years and released in 1976, but he was jailed for another 10 years in 1989 for cocaine dealing. After his release, he ran a flower stall and went to live in north London. He suffered several strokes as his health deteriorated. Bobby Welch Nightclub boss Bobby Welch was sentenced to 30 years and released in 1976. He was later left crippled when an operation on his leg went wrong. After jail he became a car dealer and gambler in London. Bill Boal Engineer Bill Boal was arrested with Cordrey in possession of £141,000, charged with receiving stolen goods and jailed for 24 years, reduced to 14 on appeal.

Reynolds claimed Boal was not involved in the robbery and was "an innocent man". He died of cancer in jail in 1970. John Wheater A solicitor who was convicted of conspiring to pervert the course of justice. He was sentenced to three years and released in 1966. He went to live in Surrey.

Question: In which year was the Great Train Robbery in Buckinghamshire?
Answer: 1963